USA Road Trip: Weeks 7 and 8

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Friends invited us to stay at their condo on the beach in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was perfect! Quiet, relaxing, a bit of time on the beach, but more time spent in the pool, working on the blog, catching up on life. We didn’t have to get up by a certain time because the hotel only served breakfast until a certain hour, we could stay in our hang-out clothes (or bathing suits) all day if we wanted to, we didn’t have to go anywhere.

After a few days, we finally left St. Petersburg and drove down through the Everglades National Park (https://www.nps.gov/ever/index.htm). More than 360 different types of birds have been sighted in the Everglades; we saw quite a few different birds, some huge grasshoppers and also some alligators. There are two major differences between alligators and crocodiles: alligators “have wider, U-shaped snouts, while crocodiles’ front ends are more pointed and V-shaped.” Also their grin: “When their snouts are shut, crocodiles look like they're flashing a toothy grin, as the fourth tooth on each side of the lower jaw sticks up over the upper lip”(https://www.livescience.com/32144-whats-the-difference-between-alligators-and-crocodiles.html). We went over a “pass” in the Everglades that was only 3 feet high; we had gone over a pass outside Taos that was over 9,200 feet.

As we were driving in the south, we saw billboard after billboard advertising legal services; this one was the most outrageous.

On to Key West, the southern-most point on our trip. We were only about 90 miles from Cuba, but we started heading north instead.

Mileage driven after this blog, from Seattle: 9,436 miles, or about 15,185 km.

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